Showing posts with label Imperial Japanese Navy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Imperial Japanese Navy. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Tuesday, July 29, 1945. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis. The 509th Composite Group receives orders for Operation Silverplate. The last Medal of Honor of World War Two.

The USS Indianapolis was sunk by the submarine I-58. Secrecy due to its role in delivering the atomic bomb to Tinian would keep its sinking secrete for several days, leading to the greatest mass shark attack in history.

The 509th Composite Group of the United States Air Force received the order that would lead to the dropping of the first atomic bomb.

Melvin Mayfield performed the actions that resulted in his winning the Medal of Honor.

He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while fighting in the Cordillera Mountains of Luzon, Philippine Islands. When 2 Filipino companies were pinned down under a torrent of enemy fire that converged on them from a circular ridge commanding their position, Cpl. Mayfield, in a gallant single-handed effort to aid them, rushed from shell hole to shell hole until he reached 4 enemy caves atop the barren fire-swept hill. With grenades and his carbine, he assaulted each of the caves while enemy fire pounded about him. However, before he annihilated the last hostile redoubt, a machinegun bullet destroyed his weapon and slashed his left hand. Disregarding his wound, he secured more grenades and dauntlessly charged again into the face of pointblank fire to help destroy a hostile observation post. By his gallant determination and heroic leadership, Cpl. Mayfield inspired the men to eliminate all remaining pockets of resistance in the area and to press the advance against the enemy.

You'll note that this occurred on Luzon, which the US had declared to be secured. 

He survived the war and died in 1990 at age 71.  

His action was the last action of the war to result in a Medal of Honor.

Henry Ford issued a statement declaring:

the nation and the world are on the threshold of a prosperity and standard of living that never before were considered possible.

I'm not a fan of Ford's, but he was correct, perhaps beyond his wildest imagination.

The British 8th Army, the Desert Rats, was disbanded.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 28, 1945. Taking no notice.

Monday, July 28, 2025

Saturday, July 28, 1945. Taking no notice.

Japanese Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki gave a response to the Potsdam Declaration stating that Japan would "take no notice" of the Potsdam Declaration. 

A B-25 flying in heavy fog struck the Empire State Building.

B-29s bombed Aomori.


Japanese battleships Haruna and Ise and,the aircraft carrier Amagi, the old cruiser Izumo, the light cruiser Oyodo and a destroyer were sunk by aircraft.

The USS Callaghan was sunk by a Yokosuka K5Y kamikaze attack off Okinawa.

The Japanese 28th Army attempted to withdraw across the Sittang River in Burma, suffering over 13,000 killed and drowned in the attempt.

The Potsdam Conference resulmeds with the appearance of Prime Minister Attlee.

The Senate ratified the Charter of the United Nations.

Jim Davis, the creator of the Garfield comic strip,was born in Marion, Indiana.


Last edition:

Friday, July 27, 1945. Preparing the bomb.

Friday, July 25, 2025

Wednesday, July 25, 1945. Truman orders the atomic bomb used on Japan.

Truman ordered the bomb dropped on Japan.  The news was conveyed to the military to accomplish the act.

The Potsdam Conference took a recess so that the British delegation could return to the UK to hear the election results.

Marshall Pétain spoke at his trial for the first time, stating he was deaf and had not heard a thing that had been said in court up to that time.

American cruisers Pasadena, Springfield, Wilkes-Barre and Astoria bombarded Japanese air bases in southern Honshu. 

US aircraft attacked Kure naval base and the airfields at Nagoya, Osaka and Miho for a second day, sinking the battleships Hyuga, Ise, and Haruna, the escort carrier Kaiyo and the heavy cruisers Aoba and Iwate are all sunk. The Japanese put up no resistance.

The US declared that Mindanao was free of organized Japanese resistance.

The Japanese pulled out of Taunggyi in the Shan states, Burma.

British naval and air units continued attacks on Japanese positions and transportation targets on the west coast of Malaya.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 24, 1945. An unsurprised Stalin.

Friday, July 11, 2025

Wednesday, July 11, 1945. Redeploying.


"Joyous Second Division Marines, about to board ship for home after more than thirty months overseas, were not forgotten by the famed division mascot "Eight Ball", who was on hand to bid them a sorrowful goodbye. Saipan. 11 July, 1945. Photographer: Rohde. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive."

The first meeting of the Inter-Allied Council for Berlin took place in which the USSR agreed to hand over civilian and military control of West Berlin to the UK and US.

The Japanese destroyer Sakura hit a mine and sank in Osaka Harbor.

The 8th Air Force began to redeploy from Europe to Okinawa, where they were to receive B-29s after initially having a training role.  The redeployment of its aircraft to the continental US also began on this day.

The US used napalm on resistant Japanese targets on Luzon.

Fadil Hoxha became President of the Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija.

Last edition:

Friday, July 10, 1945. Sentimental Journey.

    Friday, June 27, 2025

    Wednesday, June 27, 1945. Giving Japan a warning.

    Under Secretary of the Navy Ralph Bard suggested giving Japan a warning about the atomic bomb.

    US forces completed the occupation of Luzon's Cagayan Valley.  The island is accordingly nearly fully under US control.

    The I-165 was sunk east of Saipan by a US PV-2 Harpoon.

    The USS Bunker Hill was struck by a kamikaze resulting in the death of 373 men.

    Dr. Emil Hacha, age 73, the former president of the German sponsored "Bohemia-Moravia Protectorate," died in the Prague prison hospital while awaiting trial.

    Edward Stettinius resigned as Secretary of State to take up the post of ambassador to the United Nations.

    Last edition:

    Tuesday, June 26, 1945. The United Nations Charter signed, Manhattan Project scientists worry, Marilyn appears in Yank,

    Sunday, June 22, 2025

    Friday, June 22, 1945. The Battle of Okinawa ends.

    The Battle of Okinawa ended. It was the last major ground battle of World War Two.

    Today in World War II History—June 22, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—June 22, 1945: Battle for Okinawa officially ends at a high cost—12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese were killed, plus 42,000 civilians.

    June 22, 1945: The Battle of Okinawa

    Operation Ten-Go, the last major Japanese naval operation, concluded.

    Gen. MacArthur announced that Gen. Joseph Stilwell would replace Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. as commander of the U.S. Tenth Army.

    Emperor Hirohito directed his government to find a way to peace talks.

    Japanese generals Isamu Chō, 50, and Mitsuru Ushijima, 57,  committed suicide on Okinawa.

    The Japanese withdrew from Liuchow.

    Last edition:

    Thursday, June 21, 1945. Fall of Hill 89.

    Friday, June 13, 2025

    Wednesday, June 13, 1945. Taking the Oruku Peninsula.

    The Australian 9th Infantry Division captured Brunei.

    Okinawa, June 13, 1945.

    Japanese resistance on Okinawa's Oruku peninsula came to an end.  Marines took 169 Japanese POWs and found 200 dead, a surprising figure given Japanese unwillingness to surrender.

    Admiral Minoru Ōta, age 54, killed himself on Okinawa.

    U.S. Army ordnance experts claimed that German plans to attack the United States with rockets, Projekt Amerika, might have been realized by November 1945.

    The German design, a development of the V-2 but significantly different, actually would have required a pilot, as existing guidance systems were regarded as inadequate.

    Last edition:

    Tuesday, June 12, 1945. The suicide of the Japanese Marines.

    Monday, April 7, 2025

    Saturday, April 7, 1945. Desperate efforts.

    The Japanese Imperial Navy launched an ill advised doomed kamikaze attack with ten warships, including the Yamato off of Okinawa.  The Yamato was sun k with a loss of 2,055 of its 2,332 crewmembers, and five other Japanese ships went down as well.


    The Luftwaffe also engaged in a suicide mission, sending out 120 student pilots about against a 1,000 plane US raid.  They were to ram their aircraft into the Americans ones, and hopefully parachute out.

    Most of the pilots missed their targets and most were shot down.

    Operation Amherst commenced which saw the Free French and SAS launch an effort to capture Dutch canals, bridges and airfields intact.

    Kantarō Suzuki replaced Kuniaki Koiso as Prime Minister of Japan.

    Last edition:

    Friday, April 6, 1945. Operation Ten-Go.

    Sunday, April 6, 2025

    Friday, April 6, 1945. Operation Ten-Go.

    Operation Grapeshot, the Allied Spring offensive in Italy, began.

    Australians on Bougainville, where fighting was still ongoing, prevailed in the Battle of Slater's Knoll.

    "Men of U.S. Tenth Army make their way through a mine field, detonating mines with their own cannon. Okinawa. 6 April, 1945. 6 April, 1945."

    Massive kamikaze attacks take place off of Okinawa in Operation Ten-Go, a full scale suicide attack involving surface and aircraft assets.  The Yamamoto leaves for Okinawa with only enough fuel to get there, where the plan is to beach the ship and fight in that fashion.

    American destroyers Bush, Colhoun, Leutze, Morris, Mullany, Newcomb, Rodman and Witter hit by kamikazes off Okinawa. The Bush and Colhoun were sunk and the Leutze and Necomb were subsequently declared constructive total losses.

    The Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze was beached at Amoy after an attack by American B-25s.

    Last edition:

    Thursday, April 5, 1945. Rebellion of the Georgian Legion.

    Monday, March 31, 2025

    Saturday, March 31, 1945. Liberated.

    "Children of the Soviet Union whose parents were captured by the Germans and made to work in one of the German aircraft and rubber tire plants at Sanbach Odenwald, Germany, are shown playing a game.
    The factory Seventh Army troops found intact when they pushed through. Note the white flag flying in background. This factory made automobile, airplane, bicycle tires and [censored] for Messerschmitts. 31 March, 1945. Photographer: T/5 Louis Weintraub, 163rd Signal Photo Co. Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.

    The Red Army prevailed in the Upper Silesian Offensive.

    The U.S. Navy sank the I-8 off of Okinawa.

    The British and Nationalist  Chinese armies took Kyaukme.

    The French 1st Army crossed t he Rhine near Speyer.

    Last edition:

    Friday, March 30, 1945. Mère Marie Élisabeth de l'Eucharistie gassed at Ravensbruck. Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose killed in action.


    Friday, March 28, 2025

    Wednesday, March 28, 1945. Guderian gets his release.

    Hitler fired Guderian as Chief of the OKH following an argument. His replacement was Hans Krebs.

    Guderian, as we've noted before, would survive the war.  He was released from being held as a POW in 1948, never prosecuted for war crimes, and died in 1954 at age 65.

    Krebs killed himself on May 2, 1945.

    Eisenhower telegrammed Stalin with his plans for advancing in Germany.  The British, who were not consulted, protested.

    The Red Army captured Balga.

    The U.S. 80th Infantry Division captured Wiesbaden.

    The 3d Corps took Marburg.

    The USS Trigger was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the East China Sea.

    The Battle of Slater's Knoll began between Australian and Japanese forces on Bougainville.

    Last edition:

    Tuesday, March 27, 1945. The last rockets.

    Wednesday, February 5, 2025

    Monday, February 5, 1945. French SOE agents Denise Bloch, Lilian Rolfe, and Violette Szabo were executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp.

    "British 61st Heavy Regt., 31 Btry., "A" Sub. 7.2 howitzer firing. Gabbiano area, Italy. 5 February, 1945. Photographer: Schmidt, 3131st Signal Service Co."

    It was Monday, and news magazines were out.  Stalin was on the cover of Time.  German POWs were featured on Newsweek.  A smiling young woman in a swimsuit was on the cover of Life, which had an article on Florida.

    Ecuador declared war on Japan.

    The Red Army crossed the Oder at Brzeg.

    The US 7th Army and linked up with French forces splitting the Colmar pocket.

    SOE agents Denise Bloch, Lilian Rolfe, and Violette Szabo were executed at Ravensbrück concentration camp.  All three women were heroic.

    Szabo.

    High ranking SOE figure, Vera Atkins, dedicated her immediate post war efforts to detecting who was responsible for all three agents deaths.  A woman of great mystery herself, she was Romanian and Jewish, but easily passed for English.

    Bloch, who was as French Jewish refugee.

    Violette Szabo is particularly well remembered and was the topic of at least one movie.

    Rolfe.

    The SOE tends to be well remembered, but it had been penetrated causing some agents, such as Szabo, to be picked up nearly as soon as they were left on the ground.  Who the leak was, was never detected.

    The U-41 was sunk by the HMS Antelope off of Lands End.


    Hard fighting occured near Manila, where Lt. Robert M. Vale would perform the actions that would lead to a posthumous Medal of Honor being conveyed to him.
    He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. Forced by the enemy's detonation of prepared demolitions to shift the course of his advance through the city, he led the 1st platoon toward a small bridge, where heavy fire from 3 enemy pillboxes halted the unit. With 2 men he crossed the bridge behind screening grenade smoke to attack the pillboxes. The first he knocked out himself while covered by his men's protecting fire; the other 2 were silenced by 1 of his companions and a bazooka team which he had called up. He suffered a painful wound in the right arm during the action. After his entire platoon had joined him, he pushed ahead through mortar fire and encircling flames. Blocked from the only escape route by an enemy machinegun placed at a street corner, he entered a nearby building with his men to explore possible means of reducing the emplacement. In 1 room he found civilians huddled together, in another, a small window placed high in the wall and reached by a ladder. Because of the relative positions of the window, ladder, and enemy emplacement, he decided that he, being left-handed, could better hurl a grenade than 1 of his men who had made an unsuccessful attempt. Grasping an armed grenade, he started up the ladder. His wounded right arm weakened, and, as he tried to steady himself, the grenade fell to the floor. In the 5 seconds before the grenade would explode, he dropped down, recovered the grenade and looked for a place to dispose of it safely. Finding no way to get rid of the grenade without exposing his own men or the civilians to injury or death, he turned to the wall, held it close to his body and bent over it as it exploded. 2d Lt. Viale died in a few minutes, but his heroic act saved the lives of others.
    In the same battle, then TSgt Donald E. Rudolph would perform the actions that would lead to the same award.
    Second Lt. Rudolph (then TSgt.) was acting as platoon leader at Munoz, Luzon, Philippine Islands. While administering first aid on the battlefield, he observed enemy fire issuing from a nearby culvert. Crawling to the culvert with rifle and grenades, he killed three of the enemy concealed there. He then worked his way across open terrain toward a line of enemy pillboxes which had immobilized his company. Nearing the first pillbox, he hurled a grenade through its embrasure and charged the position. With his bare hands he tore away the wood and tin covering, then dropped a grenade through the opening, killing the enemy gunners and destroying their machine gun. Ordering several riflemen to cover his further advance, 2d Lt. Rudolph seized a pick mattock and made his way to a second pillbox. Piercing its top with the mattock, he dropped a grenade through the hole, firing several rounds from his rifle into it, and smothered any surviving enemy by sealing the hole and the embrasure with earth. In quick succession he attacked and neutralized six more pillboxes. Later, when his platoon was attacked by an enemy tank, he advanced under covering fire, climbed to the top of the tank, and dropped a white phosphorus grenade through the turret, destroying the crew. Through his outstanding heroism, superb courage, and leadership, and complete disregard for his own safety, 2d Lt. Rudolph cleared a path for an advance which culminated in one of the most decisive victories of the Philippine campaign.
    Rudolph survived the war and completed a career in the Army, retiring in 1963.

    The RAF Balloon Command was disbanded.

    The Japanese carrier-battleship Ise, was damaged by a mine off Indochina.

    The USAAF hit Iwo Jima again.

    The Greek Communist Party accepted the governments terms for amnesty.

    The US-bred filly Big Racket set the world record for fastest average speed set by a racehorse at the Clasico Dia del Charro held at Mexicos Hipodromo de las Americas.

    Last edition: